Surprise!

As the pond rebuild progressed, digging to deepen the pond began.  The optimum depth was to be thirty inches.  Looking at the pond, I am not sure where the thirty inch measurement is taken.  I am not sure why that number, but it seems the experts in charge deemed that the perfect number.  But then again, life is seldom if ever, perfect.


During the deconstruction, it was discovered the bad pond builder found a sewer clean out just below the ground.  He just covered it up in a way that lessened the effectiveness of the design.  The new pond builder had a goal of thirty inch depth.  Not sure why that exact number, but the dig out began to deepen the pond.  Continuing to dig, the sewer pipe which branched off at ninety degrees was uncovered...at a depth of twenty six inches below the skimmer intake (aha, the point of measurement becomes clear.)  What to do.  Is it a sewer line?  Why was the clean out below ground level?  Is it connected to the fire hydrant in the front yard?  Calls to the city produced no answers.  Calls to the company boss produced no answers.  Standing and staring at the pipe produced no answers.  Problems with no answers.  Not a good place to be in the process of the rebuild.


A call to the plumber.  No time until the next day to come check it out.  The mystery stared at us.  In the meantime, I chose to begin pulling up the Asian Jasmine that had become unsightly and completely overgrown in the little garden area outside of the pond.  What looked green and lush with trails of dead leaves marking where the dog had beaten down the plants, was actually harboring the moles digging up my yard.  They no longer had to work at moving dirt.  Behind the cover of foliage, they easily walked above ground to get from deck to deck.  


Life lessons from pond building:  1) Expect the unexpected.  In life, no matter the plans, things are not under my control or my calendar.  The unexpected popped up.  No immediate solution was available.  It did not matter what I wanted or what the expert wanted.  The person with the solution had a different calendar. 


2) While it may seem easier to just cover up things instead of dealing with issues, it seldom is effective.  Covering up usually causes more problems.  Just as I had no idea about the clean out, the cover up caused the pump to burn out and yucky green algae to grow.  Not a permanent solution to the problem.  But doing it right will always produce good results in the end.  Even when it takes more time and effort.  A life lesson that is hard to remember when covering up is so tempting.


3) When there is a problem, go to the expert.  In life, go to God first. The nice thing about God is that He is always available to talk with about life.  Ask for wisdom in who has the ability to actually help and not give lip service or worse - bad advice.  It may take time, but the effort is worth the result.


4) What is pretty on the outside may have varmints lurking just under the surface.  The green garden area looked good but had telltale signs of disturbance.  And once uncovered and discarded, the real beauty of the area could be shown.  What in my life looks good for the moment but has something eating away at that surface beauty?  Where do I need to prune in order to allow God to shine through?